The Great Adventure Series
Sermon 1
Title: The Great Adventure
Based on the Music by Steve Curtis Chapman
Introduction
Today I want to start a sermon series based on Steve Curtis Chapman’s musical CD called “The Great Adventure”.
Chapman is an acclaimed gospel/Christian singer who has inspired many Christians for more than 20 years. The Great Adventure album, as it was called back then was released in 1992. It was the first ever gospel or Christian CD that I ever bought. It is one of those CD’s that rocked my world.
The very first song that we are going to be looking at is the title song on the CD, which is called “The Great Adventure”.
The words go as follows:
1 Started out this morning in the usual way
2 Chasing thoughts inside my head of all I had to do today
3 Another time around the circle try to make it better than the last
4 I opened up the Bible and read about me
5 Said I’d been a prisoner and God’s grace had set me free
6 And somewhere between the pages it hit me like a lightning bolt
7 I saw a big frontier in front of me and I heard someone say let’s go.
CHORUS
8 Saddle up your horses we’ve got a trail to blaze
9 Through the wild blue yonder of God’s amazing grace
10 Let’s follow our leader into the glorious unknown
11 This is a life like no other oh…this is The Great Adventure
12 Come on get ready for the ride of your life
13 Gonna leave long faced religion in a cloud of dust behind
14 And discover all the new horizons just waiting to be explored
15 That is what we were created for
BRIDGE
16 We’ll travel over, over mountains so high
17 We’ll go through valleys below
18 Still through it all we’ll find that
19 This is the greatest journey that the human heart will ever see
20 The love of God will take us far beyond our wildest dreams.
Steve Curtis Chapman
1. Line 1 to 3
Started out this morning in the usual way
Chasing thoughts inside my head of all I had to do today
Another time around the circle try to make it better than the last
Every single day, we all start out the same way, searching for meaning and purpose to life. Despite all our efforts to find purpose and meaning in life, we some how come up empty handed.
We always look to tomorrow to try and do things better than we did today. At all times focusing only on what WE can do to find our meaning and purpose in life.
Some people today are just existing rather than living. The reason why they aren’t truly living is because they have an emptiness inside of them. An emptiness that only God can fill.
- Material things won’t fill this hole.
- Nor will success
- Relationships alone cannot fill it
- Even religion cannot fill the emptiness
The only thing that can fill the emptiness in our lives is God. This is good news, but to understand such good news, we need to understand the bad news.
2. Line 4 & 5
I opened up the Bible and read about me
Said I’d been a prisoner
Do you want to know one of the saddest truths – so many people go through life without so much as picking up this amazing book (The Bible).
The Bible is like a mirror. There are many people who hate looking at themselves in the mirror. Why? It always highlights our physical flaws and imperfections.
(You must learn to look at yourself in the mirror and love yourself – The word says love your neighbour as you love yourself)
It the same with the Bible. People don’t want to read it because it highlights their spiritual or “spirit man” flaws and imperfections.
Here is the thing, we all have the same flaw or imperfection – SIN. Sin is not just an act but rather a state of being. Another translation, we are not sinners because we sin, but rather, we sin because we are sinners. We are all born with the nature to do wrong.
Psalm 51: 5 – For I was born a sinner, yes, from the moment my mother conceived me” (NLT)
Because we are born sinners, sinning comes to us naturally. That is why we cannot fill the emptiness from within.
Romans 3: 23 – For all have sinned, all fall short of Gods glorious standard. (NLT)
Line 5 starts with - Said I’d been a prisoner – but it goes on…..
3. Line 5 to 7
and God’s grace had set me free
And somewhere between the pages it hit me like a lightning bolt
I saw a big frontier in front of me and I heard someone say let’s go.
Now here is where we get the true glimpse of “The Great Adventure”
Romans 3: 24 – All of us need to be made right with God by His grace, which is a free gift through Jesus Christ
God understands our problem and knows that we cannot do anything about it. Through the grace and love of God, God solved our problem by sending Jesus Christ to die for our sins. Through Jesus we receive salvation.
If there was ever something that hits you like a lighting bolt, it is the following important truths about God’s grace:
- “Mercy is when God doesn’t give us what we deserve, punishment. Grace is when God gives us what we don’t deserve, blessings and life” (Rick Warren).
- Grace sets us free, freedom from sin and death.
- We cannot save ourselves. Jesus did it all.
For me, life becomes a great adventure when I realize that my salvation has nothing to do with who I am, but it has everything to do with want Christ has done. It has nothing to do with what I have done, but it has everything to do with who He is.
Listen to the following from GW Knight, Clip-Art Features for Church Newsletters, page 53:
- When a person works an eight hour day and received a fair day’s pay – that is a wage
- When a person competes and receives a trophy for his performance- that is a prize.
- When a person receives appropriate recognition for his long service – that is an award.
- But when a person is not capable of earning a wage, can win no prize, and deserves no award – yet receives such a gift anyway – that is a good picture of God’s unmerited favour. That is what grace is all about.
Because of God’s grace, which we all need to receive and accept, life both now and through eternity is a big frontier.
4. Line 8
Saddle up your horses we’ve got a trail to blaze
I love this line, because the song starts with the singular “I”, and then between the pages of the bible our character within the song goes to the plural “We”.
Romans 10: 13 – For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (NLT).
God’s grace is available to every single person on this planet. There are no exclusions. It doesn’t mater who you are or what you have done. There are so many people who believe that God’s grace is not available to them because of something they did in the past, or because something that their parents did long ago.
Many people think that God’s grace is unreachable, because of the bad things they have done. This way of thinking is not true. God’s grace is available to everyone.
5. Line 9 to 11
Saddle up your horses we’ve got a trail to blaze
Through the wild blue yonder of God’s amazing grace
Let’s follow our leader into the glorious unknown
This is a life like no other oh…this is The Great Adventure
I don’t know much about horse riding, but I do know that you won’t make it through a horse trail unhurt, unless you saddle up. The one time, I ever got a horse, I did like 5 minutes bareback.
To truly experience this great adventure that I have been talking about, we need to saddle up, and accept Gods Grace through faith in our leader, Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 2: 8-9 – For it is by grace that you have been saved through faith in Jesus Christ – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. (NIV)
Do you know what faith is. Have a look with me at Hebrews 11.1.
Hebrew 11:1- Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen, it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. (NLT)
Joel Osteen once wrote, “Faith is simply believing that God is who he says that he is, and that He is the rewarder of the people who seek him.”
And where does faith come from?
Romans 10: 17 – Yet faith comes from listening to this message of good news, the good news about Jesus Christ. (NLT)
“Faith begins where the will of God is known. When you and I know its God’s will for us to be saved, it opens our hearts to receive salvation by faith. When you know its Gods will for you to be healed, it opens your heart to receiving healing through faith. When you know that God wants to see you blessed, your faith is ignited and you open the door to Him to move in your life” Joel Osteen – Hope for today bible page 1410
As you can see faith is a lifestyle.
Important to note, we must have faith in Jesus, because grace comes through Christ.
John 1: 17 – For the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (NIV)
Jesus is the only way to heaven. The world says there are many roads to heaven. This is a lie of Satan. Grace may be free, but it sure was expensive. It cost Jesus his life. Jesus paid the price.
Remember this verse, then next time someone tells you about the many roads scenario:
Acts 4: 12 – There is salvation in no-one else. There is no other name in all of heaven for people to call on to save them.
If you want to experience the great adventure of life you need believe this verse in scripture. Anyone who believes differently is out of line with the word of God.
Just remember that we all have natural faith. Did you see the people who built this church? No. yet you still sit here, and you have no idea if the roof is going to cave in. That is what you call natural faith.
6. Line 12 to 13
Gonna leave long faced religion in a cloud of dust behind
And discover all the new horizons just waiting to be explored
That is what we were created for
The amazing thing of God’s Grace, is that it is never ending. It goes on and on and on….
Eternity with Christ is the horizon that all of us should be striving for. Through Gods grace, it is obtainable.
Many people today live without hope and joy by believe that in the end, when its time to chip in your cards, you go onto nothing. One of the things that makes life such a great adventure, is the destination.
Romans 6: 23 – For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord (NLT)
When you go on holiday, one never minds the long journey to be endured to get to the holiday destination. The journey is all worth while. As Steve Covey once wrote in his book, 7 habits of highly Effective People ; “You need to begin with the end in mind”.
When you embark on your holiday, you begin with the end destination in mind.
Eternal life in heaven is our final destination. Life does not end, it continues. When you live life with the end in mind, you have no choice but to experience a great adventure, because very event of life, every year, day and minute is one step closer to the greatest benefit of God’s grace.
God’s grace is available right now and it extends for all eternity. Despite all the splendor of heaven as described in scripture, what truly makes heaven spectacular is that we will be forever in God’s presence.
Psalm 16:11 – You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.” (NLT)
If you want to experience the great adventure, you need to start living with a heaven bound mindset, instead of an earth bound mindset.
Conclusion
The last verse of a song is something we really need to take to heart. It matters not what we go through in life, but instead it matters with whom we go through life with.
We’ll travel over, over mountains so high
We’ll go through valleys below
Still through it all we’ll find that
This is the greatest journey that the human heart will ever see
The love of God will take us far beyond our wildest dreams.
Because of the grace of God, we can truly experience life, “The Great Adventure”
Salvation prayer
I truly believe that life will only become a great adventure when we accept the free the gift of God’s grace.
Perhaps you have messed up. Maybe you are one of those people who think you are past the point of no return. Maybe you are one of those people who think God cannot help. You are wrong. God’s Grace is available right here and right now. If you want to experience this free gift, all you need to do is accept. The word says that we have a choice between life and death. Gods wants us to have life, and life in its fullness.
If you have never accepted Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, I would encourage you to make that decision today. While all eyes are closed, if you want me to include you in my prayer this morning, please just raise your hand.
Prayer after me:
“Lord Jesus, I repent of my sins. I ask you to come into my heart, forgive me and erase my past mistakes with the blood you shed for me on the cross. I make you my Lord and Saviour. Oh God, you’re now more than my God, you’re my heavenly Father and I am going to serve you all the days of my life. Jesus is my Lord, Amen.
May God Bless you.
Hylton Davidson
4 June 2010
Acknowledgements, thanks and resources:
1. Thanks to the Holy Spirit for His inspiration and guidance.
2. Thanks to Pastor Gavin Enslin from The Active Church for giving me the idea to base a sermon series on a CD.
3. Steve Curtis Chapman – The Great Adventure CD.
4. Hope for Today Study Bible – Joel Osteen.
5. Silver Ring Thing Bible Study Bible- NLT.
6. Rick Warren – Sermon on “Saving Grace”.
7. GW Knight.
